Store leader gender and store sales performance: When and why do women and men underperform?

Finding ways of breaking the gender-based glass ceiling is an important justice issue in companies today. Employing a sample of over 200 retail stores, we explore multiple moderating and mediating factors to explain when and why women store leaders perform better and worse than men. Results reveal that (a) women are assigned to lead stores that are positioned closer to competitive rivals than men, and (b) women receive unfair distributive pay outcomes in that they are paid less than their male counterparts. Controlling for these factors eliminated performance differences between stores with men and women leaders. Further, organizational tenure and store-unit size (i.e., number of employees) were positively associated with sales performance among stores with women leaders. The findings unveil why some store-units led by women underperform, but also offer contingency factors that delineate when women-led stores excel in sales performance.